Jen chats to Dear Jane after they supported ‘We the Kings’ in Melbourne.

I have followed Dear Jane right from their start, and was stoked when they got the sought after support slot for ‘We the Kings’ in Melbourne. I was there at the gig, shooting We the Kings and used the opportunity to capture Dear Jane as well.

Hi Guys, There has been some line up changes since you started, can you tell us how the present line up came about?

Maddie: We parted ways with our previous guitarist and realised we needed to switch some things around, so Hannah jumped off the drums and onto the guitar, which was a blessing in disguise because we found Connor!

Which then lead to Jack!

Jack: I met Shannen at Starbucks in the city, and I said hey do you guys need a bassists.

Hannah: We met Connor through a mutual friend and then met his brother JACK!

Shannen: The twins came at the perfect time for us.

You draw your inspirations from many Pop Punk bands, is there one or two bands in particular that inspired you to take the step of becoming a band?

Shannen: Good Charlotte has always been a huge influence.

Connor: I probably wouldn’t have started playing drums if it wasn’t for Paramore.

Hannah: Definitely the Jonas brothers Jack: I really like Tonight Alive, they have a bass line that just drives the song so I really wanted to do something similar to that, with our band.

You have an EP ‘Brave the Storm’ to be released soon. Do you have a date for release yet?

Maddie: As of yet, it’s still being finalised. But hopefully sooner than later! We are incredibly excited for everyone to hear it.

You recorded the EP at Wedge Tail Records, what was it like working with Chris and James?

As far as your writing process goes, is it an individual or a whole band approach?

Hannah: Everyone contributes to every song, there is no one person. Sometimes someone will just have a crazy good idea that we will run with.

Are you planning on making a music video for one of your songs?

All together: HELL YEAH

Maddie: We really want to, and have a bunch of potential concepts, but realistically being in a band is expensive so we need to start saving haha.

I think the answer is pretty obvious to this question, but what has been the best gig you have played?

All: We the Kings

Hannah: The crowd vibes was insane, and I had a fan blowing my hair around.

Maddie: What more could you want! Hearing the crowd sing back was so cool.

Any funny stories you can tell us that happened at that gig?

Shannen: It wasn’t that gig, but there was a gig where I’d forgotten the words to our cover, so instead I just awkwardly danced around that was pretty funny.

Hannah: I accidentally swore in front of a little girl at a gig once. I played the wrong chord and panicked, and my recovery didn’t work.

Connor: Shannen was wearing a ‘As It Is shirt’, a person yelled out who the f*ck is Patty Walters. So I yelled out their non binary.

Maddie: SUCH A CONNOR STORY.

Jack: We got the cops called on us for practicing in Shannen’s garage at 2 in the afternoon. We weren’t punk rock until then.

Was there anything that you learnt from We the Kings that you will take with you throughout your music career?

Hannah: We gain experience every gig, and we meet new people and we absorb like a sponge.

Shannen: Seeing how big the crowd was, we really utilised this and had as much fun with it as

Maddie: We got so many compliments after the show about how much fun we were having. The crowd loved your set at The Corner, it was great to see how many people came early which added to the hype around your set.

Hannah recently added a photo on facebook I took of her playing the guitar with her hair totally over her face. I nearly deleted it. Have you a favourite pic of the band?

Maddie: Hannah’s favourite photos are when her hair is covering her face. My favourite photo is of us playing at our Far Away Stables gig, I love the colour in it. (photo credit: LORD MEDIA)

Have you ever had a gig where there were only a few people and you still played your heart out? I saw a pic on your Facebook about Hannah making a friend with a little girl that seemed to love your show! Very cute.

Hannah: The shows fluctuate in crowd sizes, but we try to maintain our fun quirky personalities on stage every time. The little girl danced the whole set, it was so cute.

Connor: We have fun no matter how big the crowd, its what I love to do so it just feels natural to have fun.

I remember that some of you met The Madden Brothers when they were here in Melbourne what was that experience like and was there an talk about the name of their song Dear Jane? (I know you had the name first!)

Shannen: It was really cool, we got to chill in a room with a bunch of people in the music industry. It was cool feeling so important. We never brought up the band at the time, we didn’t have the boys and weren’t nearly as confident about our band at the time. If we got the opportunity now, we would of course!

Maddie: They are such humble dudes so its always fun.

So what is next for Dear Jane?

Hannah: We have some sick gigs coming up. We’d love to play an interstate show soon.

Connor: Yeah, We are constantly writing new material, and gigging so you will see a lot of us! Shannen: To release the E.P and reach a wider audience with our music.

Maddie: We are definitely getting serious this year. This is the year of Dear Jane!